Casey Anthony: A just verdict?

Casey Anthony: A just verdict?

By LOUIS NICHOLAS ALBANESE
on July 25, 2012 3:21 PM

Every day we hear tragic stories of people being murdered and harmed by others all over the world. The six week trial of Casey Anthony was a tragedy viewed by many as news stations around the globe gave constant coverage of the case. In December 2008, the remains of Caylee Anthony were discovered near the Anthony house (New York Times, 2012). Casey Anthony reported her daughter missing about six months prior to when the authorities stumbled upon her remains (Time, 2012). When the body of young Caylee Anthony was discovered it was clear that her body had been dumped at the site some time ago. Most of Caylee's body was decayed and there were many bugs surrounding her and there was also vegetation present proving that she was dead for a considerable amount of time (Time, 2012).

The main suspect in the case turned out to be Casey Anthony, the victim's mother. Over the course of the investigation Casey was consistently caught lying to police about her exact whereabouts during her daughter's aforementioned disappearance. Casey, was known to police as a consistant partier who wanted nothing more than to go out to bars and meet men. The common belief seemed to be that because of Casey's partying life style, it was also hard to take care of her daughter Caylee. Consequently, many people believed over the course of this case that Casey killed her daughter in order to satisfy her care free life style. Casey just seemed to have the perfect motive for wanting to get rid of her child to satiate her own needs.

During the course of her daughter's disappearance Casey continued to party and seemingly showed little concern as to the whereabouts of her child. She also had gotten a tattoo reading "Bella Vita" translating to the "Beautiful Life" during this time frame. In my honest opinion I find it absolutely disgusting that any parent could continue living in this manner without showing concern for their child's disappearance. Casey went to trial for six weeks after authorities had discovered her daughter's body close to the Anthony residence. After the trial Casey was found not guilty for the death of Caylee Anthony. (New York Times, 2012).

In a seemingly easy case to solve the sole suspect was deemed not guilty, how could this have happened? According to Vidmar and Schuller (2001),

Because jury verdict are rendered by members of the community, their legal decisions about guilt or innocence are assumed to have a greater legitimacy and public acceptance than the decisions by a single judge. The jusry also serves as the conscience of the community because it is drawn precisely from the community in which the crime was committed (p. 130).

With this in mind it would seem that the jury should have given a just verdict. There are however, issues with juror proceedings that can at times cause unjust rulings. The biggest issue in the case of Caylee Anthony was inadmissible evidence. Although Caylee's body was found near the Anthony residence and although her mother Casey had a motive to kill her child there was no way of proving how Caylee died. Her body was so far decomposed that there was simply no way of telling how she was killed and therefore it was clear Casey Anthony would walk free. She was however, charged with lying under oath and was placed in a witness protection program because many people felt that she deserved to be brought to justice.

There are several types of prejudice that could have also contributed to the ruling among the jurors. Although not probable, it is possible that there was generic prejudice among some members of the jury. For example, if one members of the jury strongly believed that no one in their community could simply perform such a horrific act they may be inclined to believe Casey's botched story. In my personal opinion however, I feel that many members of the jury in this trial may have had normative prejudices. That is, many of the jury I am sure felt that the community had a strong sense Casey was guilty and that their ability to make an impartial decision was hindered by the fact that so many people wanted Casey to be convicted and go to jail. However, due to the fact that Caylee had been decomposed too far Casey simply had to be let go since there was no definitive evidence that she murdered her child. In my opinion justice was not served in the case I am convinced that a murderer walked free due to sheer dumb luck.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/bfr3/blogs/asp/2012/07/casey-anthony-a-just-verdict.html